COOPERSTOWN’S GERRY WELCH
Local Inventor Sees
UV-Based Face Mask
As Part Of Solution
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – Local inventor Gerry Welch believes he may have an answer to the face-mask shortage the nation is facing as it battles the Coronavirus threat.
For several years now, Welch has been promoting the “Aegis 12,” which the publicity describes as a “Healthcare Face Mask with Fail-Safe Power Pack.”
The device is two face masks with a silver foil layer in between, attached to a power pack that may be placed in a breast pocket or hung around the user’s neck.
The power pack, connected to the mask with a fiber-optic cable, provides “a high-intensity shortwave UV” that disinfects the air drawn into the center chamber through a louver in the front mask.
Welch, whose inventions include the Skeeter-Eater, a non-toxic means of reducing the mosquito population, said the Army has a 2010 patent on a similar device, but the energy source is in the mask itself, which soon heats up uncomfortably.
Regardless, the Army’s patent suggests the concept has merit.
He is seeking a patent with the assistance of Jay Yablon, the Schenectady lawyer who obtained the Skeeter-Eater patent, and meanwhile has contacted Corning, which manufacture fiber-optic cable, to gauge its interest.
Welch applied for a patent for a mosquito control device three years ago.
There has been no patent granted, as the article implies. https://patents.justia.com/patent/20170290323
Likewise, Welch applied for a patent on a mask two years: https://patents.justia.com/patent/20180264161
He should begin a kickstarter campaign!
Wow! This is great!
I hope this UV facemask device can be manufactured right here, close to home. And it needs a rechargable battery.
My ears don’t hold the elastic, but using large clips on my hat works better.
Also, that’s a very nice drawing.
Not a new Idea. This invention has been around for 30 years. See link
https://patents.google.com/patent/US5165395A/en?oq=5%2c165%2c395+